Post by Sari Fulbright on Apr 15, 2015 17:33:41 GMT -5
Hi everyone,
I have an older cow with Staph Aureus mastitis so I was hoping I could glean as much information from you all as I could!
Here is some background: Molly is a 7 year old Holstein. We bought her one year ago. Last year while milking her it seemed she would come down with sub clinical mastitis once a month or so, happening a total of 3 or 4 times before we decided it would be best to dry her up. We always caught it early, noticing the small clumps as we milked her out ( we milk by hand ). At first notice of this we would give her today and discard the milk for the allotted time. We wash our hands, use teat wipes, milk her out fully, then use a post dip.
Finally in August or September we decided to dry her up. At that time we gave her tomorrow. She dried up with no issues, and has done well ever since. She is due to freshen toward the end of May.
After drying her up last summer, we bought another milk cow, a 2 year old cross. We milked her for a few months before drying her up as well. She freshened 2 weeks ago, so we are currently milking her.
Here is our dilemma: We do not know what to do with Molly. All of the vets around here say to just get rid of her, that curing staph a mastitis in a cow that old is next to impossible. We really do not want to do that if there is another way, as she is a sweet cow and very easy to milk. Although, for Daisy's health we will get rid of Molly if we need too.
We we plan on using Molly as a nurse cow in hopes that that will keep her sucked out well enough to ward the mastitis off. My concern is the mastitis getting transferred to our younger cow, Daisy.
I guess what I am asking for is your experience and what would you do? Would you keep Molly? Do we need to keep her totally separated from Daisy? Any effective treatments this close to calving? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I am sorry this is so long...
I have an older cow with Staph Aureus mastitis so I was hoping I could glean as much information from you all as I could!
Here is some background: Molly is a 7 year old Holstein. We bought her one year ago. Last year while milking her it seemed she would come down with sub clinical mastitis once a month or so, happening a total of 3 or 4 times before we decided it would be best to dry her up. We always caught it early, noticing the small clumps as we milked her out ( we milk by hand ). At first notice of this we would give her today and discard the milk for the allotted time. We wash our hands, use teat wipes, milk her out fully, then use a post dip.
Finally in August or September we decided to dry her up. At that time we gave her tomorrow. She dried up with no issues, and has done well ever since. She is due to freshen toward the end of May.
After drying her up last summer, we bought another milk cow, a 2 year old cross. We milked her for a few months before drying her up as well. She freshened 2 weeks ago, so we are currently milking her.
Here is our dilemma: We do not know what to do with Molly. All of the vets around here say to just get rid of her, that curing staph a mastitis in a cow that old is next to impossible. We really do not want to do that if there is another way, as she is a sweet cow and very easy to milk. Although, for Daisy's health we will get rid of Molly if we need too.
We we plan on using Molly as a nurse cow in hopes that that will keep her sucked out well enough to ward the mastitis off. My concern is the mastitis getting transferred to our younger cow, Daisy.
I guess what I am asking for is your experience and what would you do? Would you keep Molly? Do we need to keep her totally separated from Daisy? Any effective treatments this close to calving? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I am sorry this is so long...